Chapter 25: A Stained Portrait, Part 1

As a little marshmallow, Marsh grew up from a family who happened to have a lowly title. They were no different from commoners, but his ambitious father begged to differ.

His father, Baron Greyham Smorshmallow, was a great man who worked hard to build a mallow matress business and give his family name a reputation, he also managed to get his three children into the most prestigious school in the kingdom called Sweet Academy.

The Baron was determined to invest in his children's future and potential, and he's most proud of his eldest son, Greyham Smorshmallow Jr., to have completed school with an outstanding performance and is now helping run the family business of which he would soon inherit.

And as for his youngest and only daughter, Mallow Smorshmallow, he also take pride in her skills and talent in the fine arts as she often gets comissioned by well established nobles from the capital to make portraits.

Meanwhile, outshined by his siblings, Marsh Smorshmallow was rather seen by his father as a dull and shy kid, who'd he often see reading books at the corners inside the house. They had quite a distant relationship, but the Baron didn't mind as long as his son was doing fine.

But things took a turn when Marsh entered the Academy.

As he stepped into the Academy, Marsh thought it was his time to prove himself, so he tried his best to do well in his academe during the first week. He wanted to be like his older brother that his father was very proud of, he always longed to receive attention and praise like his siblings.

Everything should have gone smoothly until one of his classmates decided to approach him, "Hey, you're Marsh, right?"

It was break time, and Marsh wasn't expecting anyone to talk to him since he'd always distance himself from others and keep himself occupied by reading books during breaks.

"O-Oh, hey." He awkwardly replied.

"I'm Lemmy Lemondrop, you can just call me Lem. Do you mind if I take a seat here?" Lem asked.

Marsh wasn't that good with making friends nor even small talk, so he practically have terrible social skills. Though he thought that he has to change himself at one point, so he puts down his book and faced Lem.

"Sure." He grinned, catching Lem off-guard as this changed his impression of Marsh. "Woah, never thought I'd see you smile. You always look so smart and serious reading those books."

"I-I do?... well—"

"And I think you're really cool. I could use a smart friend like you." For the first time in Marsh's life, hearing someone praise him got him all flustered. "You really think so?"

"Yeah!" And Lem smiled like the bright sun in Marsh's eyes.

That was the first time when he made a friend. And as the days passed, Marsh and Lem grew as very close friends. Though most of the time, Lem would ask Marsh to teach him the things they've learn because he was quite struggling to understand the lessons.

"Can you teach me how to do this? I don't really get it." Lem asked.

"Really? You know, it's kinda easy if you..." then as Marsh started explaining what to do, Lem didn't paid much attention as he got bored out of his mind.

Then things ended with Marsh doing Lem's homework for him, saving him the trouble of actually doing it. "Sweet! You're the best, Marsh."

"You should really start paying attention to class, Lem. What if we had to take a test? I won't be there to help you." Marsh got concerned for his friend.

"Don't worry, I've listened well enough from you. So I'm sure I'll do just fine."

Marsh doubt Lem listened when kept yawning through his explanations,"A-Alright then... oh, are you heading somewhere?" He asked when he noticed Lem packing up his things.

"Right, I've got a few chums waiting for me behind the academy. We're planning to do something pretty sick!" Lem mentioned, he noticed that curious look on Marsh's face. He didn't want to invite him over, but Marsh asked right ahead, "Can I go with you?"

"Woah there, I'm not sure if can handle it, Mr. Goody-two-shoes." Lem said teasingly.

"H-Hey! I can handle anything."

"You sure? You'll have to skip history class if you wanna come with."

Marsh hesitated for a moment, but his age also seek an exciting experience, "I... I think it won't hurt to miss out one class."

"Woah, goodness! Is that really you, Marsh?" Lem chuckled, "Okay, cool. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing!" And Lem dragged Marsh along all the way behind the academy, the place where he'd hang out with his other friends.

Marsh was expecting they'll be doing fun stuff like playing checkers or card games, but when they arrived, the smile on his face quickly faded to witness such repulsive situation.

"Welcome to the Blue Chip Brotherhood!" Lem announced as he proudly show Marsh his group, though Marsh was utterly disgusted to see such a scene.

There were mostly noble children from different years and classes that belonged in the brotherhood, and most of them were doing activities that goes against school policy.

All he saw were delinquents vandalizing on the school wall, there were some that were gambling here and there with actual money, and the worst part of all, he can see there were noble students beating up commoner students.

He grabbed Lem by the arm, pulling him away from that place. "Lem, we gotta go!"

"But we just got here."

"This place is filled with vile delinquents! We have to go and report this to the school authorities, Lem."

Lem scoffed, pushing Marsh off him. "So you're calling me a vile delinquent now?"

"What!? No!—"

"I always knew a lame goody-two-shoes like you would react like this." Lem snapped his fingers and two guys came marching to his side, "i never liked the way you always read books, you think you look cool and smart that way? You think you're better than me!? Boys, hold him."

The two guys accompanying him holds Marsh by the arms, not letting him go, "L-Lem!... b-but I thought we were friends!"

"Friends? With the son of a lowly Baron like you?" Lem smirked, "You wish!"

From there, Marsh's life at the Academy turned into a living nightmare. Forcing him to do anything he orders, basically making him his lackey. And if Marsh ever dared to refuse Lem, he'd have him beaten up on a whim.

Marsh badly wanted to report this to the school authorities, but Lem kept his mouth shut with all his friends from the Blue Chip Brotherhood to keep an eye on Marsh wherever he go.

"Finally..." he sighed as he rode a carriage home.

Those were the only times Marsh can rest easy, although being at home was another kind of quiet torture for Marsh. Whenever he would walk through the hallways of their house, he can't stop feeling envious seeing the portraits hung on the walls.

"...I'm home." He spoke to the solo portrait of his father, no one even bothered to welcome him back as servants just passed by him.

The Baron was fond of having a portrait to commemorate the achievements of his children. And since Marsh didn't have much talent to participate in anything, he never had the chance to get a portrait of himself—except for their whole family portrait.

But this quiet life at home is way more preferable than his life at the academy, though he never thought his peace at home will eventually be taken away from him when his father received word about his declining performance at school.

Called into the Baron's office, Marsh finally got the attention he wanted from his father, but it wasn't exactly the type of attention he's been yearning for.

"What's the meaning of this!?" The Baron threw a letter at Marsh which was sent by his teacher at the academy, he checked the letter that containing a report about him.

"F-Father, this is..."

"Unacceptable!" His father yelled, his hand shaking from anger. "I've sent you to the academy to learn, n-not this! What is this, Marsh!?"

"Father, I-I... I..."

"Cutting classes!? Not doing homework?! Often sent to the infirmary!? Surely I didn't raise you to become a bastard—explain yourself!"

"That... I..." Marsh couldn't find the right words to explain himself to his father. Should he tell about Lem? A part of him wanted to speak out, but he didn't want to appear like a coward who couldn't even defend himself.

"I-I apologize for my actions, father. I will make up for all my misdeeds." He greatly faltered, making his father disappointed at him.

"I never expected anything from you, Marsh. The least you could've done was that you'd turn out like your brother." His father uttered, Marsh heard him sigh and turned his back on him, "Get out of this office before I kick you out myself."

That was the last time his father ever spoke to him after he returned to the Academy. Marsh would try his best to do well with his studies, only to be hindered by Lem's schemes to ruin his life at school.

And after classes, Marsh would often try to escape from Lem's sight just to have a moment of peace. He'd hide at the most random and not-so obvious hiding places, and the best place he found was the library.

"Phew, just on time." He sighed of relief as he closed the doors.

Marsh suspected that Lem and his friends would never bother to visit the library, and it was a place filled with books that he haven't read before.

He decides to look for the book he previously read in the library, and when he found the book, somebody else happened to lay their hand on it.

"Oh, sorry. Are you going to read this book?"

When Marsh turns to look at this person, it turned out to be a girl and she smiled at him as she handed the book, "Here you go."